Dry type continuous wire drawing process

Abstract

Herein disclosed is a dry type continuous wire drawing process which can retain satisfactory working circumstances while eliminating the problem of disposal of waste liquids. The wire drawing process includes the steps of descaling a wire to be drawn, coating the descaled wire with a lubricant, and drawing the lubricant-coated wire through a drawing die. The descaling step is conducted in a mechanical manner. At the lubricant coating step, the descaled wire is once coated with lime powder and then with metallic soap powder. Thus. the three steps recited are conducted under dry and continuous conditions. At the lubricant coating step, the lime-coated wire may be coated with powder of sodium stearate before it is coated with the metallic soap.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A dry type continuous wire drawing process comprising the following continuously conducted steps of: feeding continuously a steel wire by unwinding the same from a pay-off stand;   mechanically descaling the continuously fed wire;   guiding and passing the descaled wire through a lubricant surfacer bath, a reinforcing lubricant bath and a pre-die lubricant bath, which baths are arranged in tandem in the recited order so that the wire runs therethrough continuously;   said lubricant surfacer bath containing therein a lime powder having a mean particle diameter not larger than 50 microns and having near an exit thereof a powder applying die having an internal diameter which is from 0.1 to 0.2 mm larger than the diameter of the descaled wire so as to permit application of a lime coating on the surface of the wire while said wire passes through said lubricant sufacer bath;   said reinforcing lubricant bath containing therein a sodium stearate powder having a mean particle diameter not smaller than 2 microns and having near an exit thereof a powder applying die having an internal diameter slightly larger than the diameter of the lime-coated wire so as to apply a coating of sodium stearate on the surface of the lime-coated wire while allowing the wire to run through said reinforcing lubricant bath;   said pre-die lubricant bath containing a calcium stearate powder for applying a coating of calcium stearate on the surface of the sodium stearate-coated wire, thereby forming three layers of coating on the surface of the descaled wire; and   drawing the lubricant-coated wire through a drawing die.   
     
     
       2. The wire drawing process in accordance with claim 1, wherein said pre-die lubricant bath further contains a lime powder which is mixed with said calcium stearate powder. 
     
     
       3. The wire drawing process in accordance with claim 1, wherein the mechanical descaling process is conducted by shot-blasting the surface of the continuously fed steel wire. 
     
     
       4. The wire drawing process in accordance with claim 1, wherein the mechanical descaling process is conducted by bending the continuously fed steel wire. 
     
     
       5. The wire drawing process in accordance with claim 1, wherein the coating density of lime on the surface of the steel wire is not lower than 5 g/mm 2 . 
     
     
       6. The wire drawing process in accordance with claim 1, wherein the coating density of sodium stearate on the surface of the lime-coated steel wire is not lower than 1 g/mm 2 . 
     
     
       7. The wire drawing process in accordance with claim 1, wherein the coating density of calcium stearate on the surface of the lime and sodium stearate-coated steel wire is not lower than 2 g/mm 2 .